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"Super-Earths" are among the most numerous planet type in the galaxy. The term just means they mass somewhere between 1 and 10 Earths, and says literally nothin

"Super-Earths" are among the most numerous planet type in the galaxy. The term just means they mass somewhere between 1 and 10 Earths, and says literally nothing else about the planet. Why is this interesting news?

pmiller2 8y ago
Because it's right in our backyard? At about 6 light years, this star and its planet(s) are the second closest extrasolar star system to Earth, after Alpha Centauri.
- rbanffy 8y ago
  And since it rotates around a relatively dim star, imaging it directly is much easier than a planet much further away. Also, super earths are more common only because we can find them with the tools we have. By looking at our own backyard, I can tell you round rocks smaller than Earth are much more numerous than any other roughly spherical thing orbiting the Sun.
mgleason_3 8y ago
And likely lifeless without liquid water, hmmm...
- Robotbeat 8y ago
  *on the surface. It's beyond the frost line, so probably has deep icy oceans.
  - Roboprog 8y ago
    Europa experiences tides from Jupiter This planet may or may not have a companion to keep it pliable below its crust other than a few volcanic vents
    - Robotbeat 8y ago
      You do not need tidal heating to have a liquid ocean. A thick enough crust will insulate the primordial and decay heat below.
hulton 8y ago
It isn't interesting news. People just like to hype trivial things.
dogma1138 8y ago
Most of them also seem to be either small or failed ice giants like Neptune or Uranus which makes them even more “boring”.
HillaryBriss 8y ago
thank you for defining that. i was wondering about that term. it made me think the planet was also in Earth's temperature range. but it's not. it orbits so far from Barnard that it's very cold and unlikely to have any liquid water. and they can say only that it's "potentially" rocky (so therefore also potentially gaseous?). it doesn't seem very much like earth.
craftyguy 8y ago
> "Super-Earths" are among the most numerous planet type in the galaxy Source? Just because our limited technology for detecting exoplanets tells us in the results that "X is most common" does not mean that X is really the most common. It could be that planets smaller than Earth are the most numerous types, but we just cannot see many of them because they are, well, relatively small.
InclinedPlane 8y ago
> "Super-Earths" are among the most numerous planet type in the galaxy. Ehhh, not so much. We don't have reliable statistics for planetary abundance outside of a very narrow zone, due to limitations in our detection systems. Among planets with short orbital periods lower than a few years, super-earths are the most abundant, much more so than Earth-size planets. But that doesn't tell us much about their absolute abundance. Also, it's interesting because Barnard's star is one of the closest stars to Earth.

pmiller2 8y ago

Because it's right in our backyard? At about 6 light years, this star and its planet(s) are the second closest extrasolar star system to Earth, after Alpha Centauri.

rbanffy 8y ago
And since it rotates around a relatively dim star, imaging it directly is much easier than a planet much further away. Also, super earths are more common only because we can find them with the tools we have. By looking at our own backyard, I can tell you round rocks smaller than Earth are much more numerous than any other roughly spherical thing orbiting the Sun.

mgleason_3 8y ago

And likely lifeless without liquid water, hmmm...

Robotbeat 8y ago
*on the surface. It's beyond the frost line, so probably has deep icy oceans.
- Roboprog 8y ago
  Europa experiences tides from Jupiter This planet may or may not have a companion to keep it pliable below its crust other than a few volcanic vents
  - Robotbeat 8y ago
    You do not need tidal heating to have a liquid ocean. A thick enough crust will insulate the primordial and decay heat below.

hulton 8y ago

It isn't interesting news. People just like to hype trivial things.

dogma1138 8y ago

Most of them also seem to be either small or failed ice giants like Neptune or Uranus which makes them even more “boring”.

HillaryBriss 8y ago

thank you for defining that. i was wondering about that term. it made me think the planet was also in Earth's temperature range. but it's not. it orbits so far from Barnard that it's very cold and unlikely to have any liquid water. and they can say only that it's "potentially" rocky (so therefore also potentially gaseous?). it doesn't seem very much like earth.

craftyguy 8y ago

> "Super-Earths" are among the most numerous planet type in the galaxy Source? Just because our limited technology for detecting exoplanets tells us in the results that "X is most common" does not mean that X is really the most common. It could be that planets smaller than Earth are the most numerous types, but we just cannot see many of them because they are, well, relatively small.

InclinedPlane 8y ago

> "Super-Earths" are among the most numerous planet type in the galaxy. Ehhh, not so much. We don't have reliable statistics for planetary abundance outside of a very narrow zone, due to limitations in our detection systems. Among planets with short orbital periods lower than a few years, super-earths are the most abundant, much more so than Earth-size planets. But that doesn't tell us much about their absolute abundance. Also, it's interesting because Barnard's star is one of the closest stars to Earth.